Hunters Of The West
by Ash-Wood95
Summary: In the 1800s there lived a man named Samuel Colt. To most people he was simple gun maker, to others he was a legendary hunter of all things supernatural. This is a story of some of the hunts he went on, the situations he faced, how he assembled a team of fellow hunters and how he became such a legendary name for all future hunters.
1. Sunrise

**A/N Welcome to my Supernatural fanfic, readers. I see everywhere fanfics about Sam and Dean and other characters, and well why wouldn't there be. They are both great characters and as such lots of people want to write about them. But I wondered, why hasn't someone written about the Hunters of the West, like Samuel Colt? I mean the character was popular enough that a spin off about him was in the works, so I would expect some stories about him. And yet I haven't seen one. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough or wasn't lucky enough to come across one, but as a result I wanted to write my own. Thus this fanfic was born. ****Disclaimer - Supernatural does not belong to me, nor does Samuel Colt or their interpretations on various supernatural creatures, but my OCs do.**

**Chapter 1: Sunrise**

_Sunrise, Wyoming 1848_

The night's sky loomed over the town of Sunrise, full of glistening stars that brightly lit up the town streets. Yet still, there were plenty of dark areas in small gaps between buildings, which could even be classified as alleys. A cold, brisk breeze pushed through, so strong it almost sent a young woman that was wearing a rather large dress on a downward spiral to the ground. She managed to regain her footing but the wind blew her long, blond hair flying all around her head, masking her face from any on-lookers but also blocking her vision from where she was going.

Without realising she strayed too close to a small gap between a couple two-storey buildings and she also couldn't react in time to prevent herself from getting within reach for the waiting creature.

In a solid, rapid motion an arm appeared from the shadows and dragged her into the crevice between the buildings and pinned her up against the wall. She struggled but the arm holding her against the wall was just too strong. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand clamped itself in place and prevented any noise escaping her. Her hair slowly removed itself from her eyes, allowing her to see her attacker. His face was a pale white and he looked no older than twenty. But his eyes held a lot more to them than his face, they looked mysteriously older. His hair reached down to his shoulders and it was a jet black, but it was riddled with sweat, filth and grime.

"Such a pretty little thing!" He said to no one in particular and with a creepy hiss to his voice. The woman could smell his vile breath as he spoke. He bared his teeth in a wide grin and the sight of yellow rot seeped through. But quickly the visual changed as a set of pure white fangs descended. He started to quietly laugh as she began to writhe under his grip in a futile attempt to escape. He used his hand that was clamped tightly on her face to make her neck available to him. As her skin was revealed to him he opened his mouth wide and he leant in close to her.

She began crying as he neared and her tears rolled down from her tightly sealed eyelids. However, his approach halted as a silhouetted figure stepped into the light at the end of the _alley_ and a deep voice emanated from it.

"If you want a strong drink I can direct you to the best bartender I know!"

The vampire looked up apprehensively towards the silhouette, and the man that it belonged to uttered another sentence

"He can make up a mean whiskey. Unlike any other whiskey you've tasted, believe me. Unless you prefer the sweet taste of a sarsaparilla." he called out mockingly

The vampire's fangs retracted and he released the woman from his intense grip, allowing her to run past the silhouetted man without so much as a glance.

"So, which way is it going to be? Run? Or fight?" The silhouette moved forward with bold and strong pacing until he was no longer a silhouette and he revealed himself to be the legendary hunter Samuel Colt.

The vampire decided to spin on it's axis and leap off in the opposite direction, going as fast as possible.

"Run it is then." Colt brushed aside his dirty, brown duster jacket and pulled out a rather long blade that was ever so slightly curved at the end. His hand covered the hilt but the presence of a white bandaging was evident directly over the handle. Mere seconds passed by, in which he broke off into a run as he began chasing down this night's hunt.

Colt chased the vampire through the back part of the town, which eventually led straight down to a swamp. It was only small but the water levels were high. The surrounding dirt was only a little higher than the water but the space for footing was thin, making it a tricky place to be if there was to be a physical confrontation. And with a hunt like this, there surely would be.

Colt steadied his footing as he entered the thin walk space and kept his feet far enough apart to keep his stance solid. His grip remained tight over the handle of his blade as he looked around for his prey.

Ripples were suddenly sent through the water as a disturbance was caused by the vampire rising up from the depths of the swamp. He leapt up from the murky waters and launched himself at Colt, who reacted by swinging his arms and grabbing the vampire in the air. Together they tumbled to the ground where they struggled with each other. The vampire violently tried to lower it's fangs towards Colt's neck whilst Colt held him at bay as much as possible using his right forearm. His left arm was currently fully extended and trying to grab hold of his sword as it had fallen a couple feet away from him. It was teetering on the edge of the dirt pile, close to falling into the dirty waters where it would descend straight to the bottom. He tried to grab hold of it but he also tried hard to avoid giving that final nudge that would succeed in sending it over the edge.

Soon enough though he had to stop trying for it as the vampire got a little too close to his neck. He brought his other arm and grabbed the back of the vampire's head, his fingers wrapped around the strands of hair at the back, before lifting it up and away from his own flesh. The vampire let out a large growl and forced his head back down, despite Colt's strength he couldn't hold up against the sheer weight of the creature on top of him, at least not with the continuous struggle going on.

However, such a struggle was alleviated when sporadically the vampire was sent flying off of Colt. At first he was surprised as to what had happened or why but then he understood as soon as he saw who was standing to his left. The tall figure to his side belonged to that of a burly man who weighed at least a couple hundred pounds. In proportion to his large body he also had a large head, on top of which no hair could be found. His dark brown eyes looked down at Colt and he offered a hand to lift him up on his feet. Colt extended his arm to accept the helping hand and soon enough he was standing tall next to his ally.

"Thank you Shane!" Colt exclaimed as he looked into the eyes of his ally. Shane nodded in response, evidently a man of few words, but then he pushed Colt aside as the vampire charged at them. Shane wrapped one of his large hands around the vampire's throat, an action that caused the vampire to be taken off his feet. Shane used the momentum to thrust the creature to the ground with brute force. Colt picked up his sword and walked calmly over to the vampire. Shane moved his hand down from the vampire's throat and instead held him down by the arms.

Colt bent down to the vampire's face and said "Your last moments on this Earth, anything you want to say?" He didn't really care about anything the vampire wanted to say but he wanted the vampire to wait for a few moments knowing he was about to die. The action itself was quite sadistic, but Colt was no sadist. He just felt it necessary to torture this particular creature given the nature of it's existence and how it survived by feeding off of others in the way it did.

"Go to hell!" Was all it spat out at Colt

"Maybe, but you'll have to let me know what it's like first." Before the vampire could react Colt rapidly stood up and swung his sword downwards, slashing at the creature's neck line. Within seconds the head was severed and it rolled away before dropping down into the dirt filled waters. Shane let go of the creature's now lifeless corpse and he too stood up straight. In terms of height as well as build he towered over Colt with ease and so as they stood next to each other Colt had to crane his neck upwards to look at Shane properly.

Colt waved his arm to signal what to do with the body and so Shane move over to the other side before lashing his leg out to kick the body into the waters, where it would come to rest alongside the head. A small pool of blood was all that remained, in immediate view, of the hunt they had just undertaken and Colt mixed it in with the mud and dirt that surrounded it. After he was done the only way to detect the presence of blood would be a form of technology that was yet to be created. Plus, the way he figured it no one had any reason to come down to the swamp and look around anyway. He had never heard of anyone being down here, at least not people that were human. And anything else that was inhuman, he hunted.

He checked around him to make sure the evidence was all gone just in case though and when satisfied that all was okay he turned to Shane and once again craned his neck to look at him directly. "Come alone Shane, tonight was another successful hunt. We may as well head back now".

He turned once more and began walking out of the swamp, Shane grunted in acknowledgement and followed in suit.

**I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did then please feel free to follow/favourite and review. Thank you very much for reading :)**


	2. New Recruit

****A/N Thank you to those of you who have decided to read this so far, and to those who have followed and/or favourited this story. Whenever someone does that it gives me more of a push to actually write as soon as I can. If even just a few people like my story then I am happy and I seem to have achieved that at least. ****

****To any new readers I would also like to thank you for joining me on Samuel Colt's journey (or at least my interpretation of it).****

**** I have a fair few ideas planned that I hope you all might enjoy. I also would like to take this chance to invite any of you to take part, I enjoy the notion that a project is a sum of its parts and some of those parts can come from a variety of sources. Thus I would like to simply say that if any of you have any ideas for anything that could happen, event wise or character wise and so on, then feel free to PM me with said ideas and we can discuss, no matter how big or small they are. If I think they can be incorporated into the story well at any point then I will do so, and will give you full credit in the Author's Note.****

****So, with that out of the way here is Chapter Two. I hope you all enjoy, feel free to leave any feedback if you like and I will see you next time.****

****Disclaimer - Supernatural does not belong to me, nor does Samuel Colt or their interpretations on various supernatural creatures, but my OCs do.****

**Chapter 2 - New Recruit**

_Somewhere outside of Sunrise, Wyoming 1848_

Samuel Colt sat behind a dark brown desk looking down at a thick, lighter brown coloured book. His right hand was wrapped around a glass of bourbon, which he raised to his lips and downed a rather large gulp. He put the glass down with a clunk and without hesitation he opened up the book in front of him. It opened up to two pages full of writing, all notes and tales of his hunts and more. He flicked through the pages and advanced until he reached a blank page. The left page was dated the 23rd March and contained an entry talking about a recent exorcism which he performed, the details of which proved a lot more troublesome than normal.

Colt picked up an ink pen, that was held in a small pot directly in front of him, and used it to write the date 25th March, 1848 at the top. left hand corner on the right hand page. After that he began to write his latest entry:

_This morning I was alerted to the existence of a vampire nest somewhere nearby to Sunrise, Wyoming. I spent the day looking through the town for clear signs of such a presence. After several hours my team of hunters and I found such a sign. We discovered a vampire prowling the town looking for potential victims. However, we were not able to begin the next phase of the hunt yet, as the town was still too active. So instead we had to interfere in the vampire's scouting trip throughout the town, whilst at the same time ensuring we did not give away our identities or intentions. In this hunt the power held within such a secret could prove extremely valuable. The secret of my identity can be somewhat hard to keep when the people of the town know me as gun maker by trade, but through the joint effort of my team and I we succeeded in disrupting the vampire's activities and did so without anyone or anything catching on._

_We tracked it to a meeting point with what we believe to be the rest of the vampire nest. We counted at least ten vampires, a fairly large amount for this part of the country. However, we lost track of them as we tried to follow them back to their hideout. They used a very intricate set of pathways and roads to escape any pursuers, such as ourselves._

_Yet, the day wasn't a waste. We did discover that one vampire had returned to Sunrise to have a feed. So, to reduce their numbers as soon as possible I set out to hunt this sole vampire. If in any way such an action would give away the power of surprise, at least the vampires would only think there is one hunter and therefore believe they could challenge said hunter. _

_I succeeded in preventing the vampire from feeding on any townsfolk and I chased it to the swamp. There I, with the help of my fellow hunter Shane, ultimately defeated the creature and sent it to the depths of the swamp waters where no one is likely to find it._

Colt halted writing there as Shane entered Colt's abode through the front door. A small gust of wind entered along with him and various papers on his desk rustled as a result. Colt looked up at his accomplice and quickly stood up before turning to the filing cabinets behind him and picking up the bottle of bourbon that sat atop. He also picked up another glass before he laid them both on his desk, both with a clunk that reverberated around the room, before he and Shane both sat down opposite each other. Colt poured some bourbon into the second glass and handed it to Shane who took it without uttering a word, simply giving a curt nod to say thanks.

* * *

Colt woke the next morning to discover he had fallen asleep at his desk, his now empty whiskey glass clenched tightly in his right hand. His head rested atop the pile of papers he had looked over throughout the night. He lifted his head and he moaned groggily He could feel the effects of the whiskey simmering, yet he still found himself able to focus on his surroundings. He looked round to see Shane was gone, first he wondered where but then realised that Shane had left through the night to leave Colt to himself, his papers and his whiskey.

Colt let go of the glass and stood up from his wooden desk chair, clasping his hands over his back and arching it to stretch out a cramp that had decided to settle in place due to the position in which he slept. Once he finally got rid of the cramp he left his office to go and clean himself up.

A fair few minutes later Colt emerged, more or less clean and in a fresh set of clothes. He had on a pure white shirt, open at the top by a few buttons and a set of brown trousers held up by their suspenders. He approached his desk and gazed at the mess that resided on it. He picked up some papers and set them straight but eventually he just let out a gruff sigh and left them as they were. He felt he could find what he needed a lot easier in a mess than he could if it was all tidied up and filed properly: Order out of chaos. That just made sense to him.

He prepared himself a brew of coffee and took his little white cup with scuff marks on it, now filled to the top with a strong, black coffee, outside to breath in some fresh air. He sat on his porch for a half hour, enjoying the finish of the sun rising. _And so the sun rises in Sunrise. _It was a common thought in Colt's head and it never got any funnier, but it always provided an odd form of amusement to him.

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and when he turned his head to get a proper look he saw Shane on horseback approaching Colt's home. Another horse followed, on which was Colt's other hunter ally. This man was of the same build as Colt only he looked somewhat younger. He also wore a pair of brass rimmed glasses. They also had a single crack through the middle of the left lens. He looked like the typical book-worm, but his facial expression also suggested he was a person of many secrets, and perhaps one of those was that despite his book-worm looks he could handle himself just fine. One thing that added to this was the goatee that was beginning to form around his mouth.

What surprised Colt however was a third horse trailing closely behind the second. He couldn't quite see the figure on the back of the horse just yet as he was currently a silhouette in the centre of the sunlight. Colt had to look away so as not to look directly at the sun and as a result blind himself. The horses slowly came to a halt in front of Colt and Shane was the first to get down to ground level, followed by the second man.

Colt nodded at Shane and the other man "Mornin' Dex"

"Good morning Samuel, I trust you had a restful night's sleep, as always?" Dex replied somewhat sarcastically, but his facial expression gave no indication whether he was joking or not so Colt chose to only respond with

"Who's the Squirt?" Colt asked harshly referring to the short figure behind Dex with a nod in his direction to go along with it.

Dex's glasses slithered down the bridge of his nose until he used his index finger to push them back up.

"This is Jake, my younger brother." Dex answered him and tied his horse up near the porch. Shane and Jake did the same. Jake looked a lot like Dex, with the same black hair only he had no glasses or facial hair whatsoever.

Colt turned a complete 180 as they as now all passed him by, he still held his cup of coffee in his hands but it was almost empty now.

"And what exactly is he doing here?" he asked with a strong, almost harsh tone to his voice as he followed the trio into his own home.

"He's our New Recruit!" Dex answered bluntly as he leant against a cabinet next to Colt's desk. Dex pointed to the seat on the opposite side of Colt's desk, indicating for Jake to sit down. Jake followed his brother's directions and sat down almost timidly. His body frame was smaller than both Dex's and Colt's and obviously much smaller than Shane's, who currently stood in the corner of the room watching the events unfold.

Colt scoffed at Dex's suggestion that this _young kid_, as he thought of him, joining their team. "I decide who joins my group, not you Dex" He said boldly as he moved round, near enough slammed his cup down on his desk and slumped into his chair.

"Now now Samuel, all I need is for you to give him a chance. You gave me a chance and here I am today, a part of your team helping hunt creatures on a regular basis. All Jake wants is an opportunity to do the same." Dex defended his brother

"Look at him, I can tell by just a quick glance that he is extremely inexperienced when it comes to hunting"

"Weren't you once?"

"Yeah, before I was in my double digits"

"If I may just interrupt sir, I wish to learn. I'm not asking to hold a weapon and decapitate a vampire just yet. But I want to observe, I want to train so one day I can do what my brother does, What all of you do" Jake spoke for the first time. His voice was fairly high for a man, but he only looked like he was in his teens anyway. Colt laughed inwardly at this.

He just stared at Jake for several minutes, which began making Jake really uncomfortable. "Tell me boy, why do you want to do this? You got a deep blood lust and want to aim it at the demonic creatures that exist in secret?"

"No sir. I want to help people!"

Colt laughed, audibly this time. "Listen kid, nobody is gonna thank you for doing this. I've been in this business a long time and I counted myself lucky to even be thanked once. So, if you think this is gonna be all happy days with you saving people and them walking away being thankful to you then you may as well walk out that door right now."

"No sir, I do not want any renown, I simply wish to do something with my life that has meaning, real meaning. And whichever way you look at it, doing what you do saves a lot of lives." Jake abstained, obviously determined to give this life a go.

"It also causes a lot to be lost son, and a lot of extreme things have to be done. You willing to face that?"

"Yes sir, if it means that I get to save some people's lives that would otherwise be lost I am prepared to do what I must"

Colt returned to glaring and an extreme awkward silence filled the room as he contemplated the options. Abruptly he looked at Dex and asked

"Any luck with the nest?"

Dex gave no response at first, expecting Colt to realise he should give a proper answer to Jake before they discussed the vampire nest but eventually he succumbed to the reality that no answer would be provided yet. "Yes! I tracked them to a barn located on the other side of Sunrise, I also discovered that they were the same nest who claimed at least fifteen victims a few County's over. You remember the report from Edlund about the nest who relentlessly abducted a whole mass of victims?"

"I do. Well then, saddle up. We'll head out to the barn, scout them out together and see what we can do about helping them close down their operation. No vampire clan resides in my town"

Colt sprung up and grabbed his curved blade with the white hilt and shoved it into a sheath before attached it to his gun belt and wrapped that around his waist. Shane was already out the door and had begun untying his horse. Dex waited for a few moments unsure of what was to come of Jake but when Colt gave no sign of answering he knew he had to get ready too. He landed a hand on his brother's shoulder to silently say _it's okay_ and headed out to his horse. Jake simply sat in the chair, unsure of what to do, though deep down he knew he couldn't stay in Samuel Colt's office.

Colt stood in the open doorway, putting on his duster jacket and setting it straight before he looked over at Jake "Well then. How 'bout it Squirt? You ready to learn?"

Jake glanced up and round at Colt's face which bore all the signs that he was serious, yet Jake still couldn't make out if he was or not.

"Well?" Colt asked again and gave an impatient jerk of the head to the outside "You coming or not? We ain't got all day"

Jake then smiled, leapt up from the seat and followed Colt outside, before hopping up on his own horse and following this elite team of hunters as they begun their next hunt.


	3. Nest

**A/N I would like to apologise for how late this is. The truth is I never know when I get to write things, my schedule can be a bit unpredictable. But I have had some serious reasons for some time which seemed to have caused a dry spell for me. However, I managed to finish this little story arc for this here. I do have some other ideas and I likely will continue this story, but for now consider this as a three shot story. Or at least a story arc that spans over three chapters and I can follow up on with another story arc.**

**I would also like to take a moment to request feedback on how well you think I have done with this story. Be it praise, or constructive criticism. I wish to know what you think of thi so I can improve or at least maintain a good standard for you readers.**

**Thank you very much for reading, and here is Chapter 3.**

******Disclaimer - Supernatural does not belong to me, nor does Samuel Colt or their interpretations on various supernatural creatures, but my OCs do.******

**Chapter 3 – Nest**

The sun now sat at a higher point in the sky, shining over the town of Sunrise, and basking it in a golden glow. But on the outskirts of the town, an old, run down barn could be found. It was this barn that Colt and his team watched as they sat atop a small hill. The hill was in a high enough position to provide sufficient cover from anyone near the barn if they looked that way.

Colt was watching ever so vigilantly, barely blinking as he stalked his prey. Two vamps were outside the barn doors, even at this time of the day. Though of course vampires weren't affected by sun light in quite the way normal people expect. But nonetheless these vamps were cautious, the large barn doors were situated on the side of the barn that was always shielded from direct sunlight.

Whilst Colt watched their every action, Dex sat behind him currently sharpening all the blades they had with them. Jake sat next to him and helped him, "His first step to learning" Colt had called it. He may have agreed to allow him to learn but he wasn't willing to allow Jake to use any weapons yet.

Jake thought about how good it was he didn't want to yet. It would be reckless as he was completely untrained. He knew that just as Colt did, but Jake also knew that he was prepared to put in the time and effort to become like his brother, or Colt. He didn't know which of the two he admired more: Dex for his intelligence and thought out nature or Colt for his take charge attitude.

Shane knelt right beside Colt but he only half watched the vampires as Colt had instructed he keep checking on Dex and Jake.

A couple hours had passed and the sun was now about to reach the highest point in the sky. It was now that Colt decided was their time to act. He turned to the others and began to speak

"As of right now the sun is at the highest point in the sky, so most if not all of the vamps inside that barn will be fast asleep. Aside from the two out front I see no threat outside. Now, we need to eradicate these pests but we also need to ensure there are no humans inside. So, me and Dex will sneak down and deal with the two on guard. Once we have done that we will make our way inside. Shane, you know what to do once we're inside right?"

Shane nodded strongly towards his leader in agreement and allowed Colt to continue. "Good, take the Squirt here with you and keep your eye on him. No trouble should be coming your way so he should be out of harms way, but just in case make sure he doesn't leave your side. Understand?"

Shane nodded yet again, but Jake had a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, signifying how much he resented the fact Colt even felt he had to mention the idea of Jake even going anywhere without being told to first. Colt noticed this but dismissed it, _now isn't the time to get petty with one another_ he thought to himself.

"Very well then, let's get to it" he said and pulled out his blade with the white bandaged hilt before he began to descend the small hill top and make his way along the side of the barn to the front.

Dex followed closely until they reached the side, where he moved off in the opposite direction so he could attack from the other side. Colt reached the corner of the barn and peeked around to see the two guards, he focused on the one closest to him. It would be easy for him, after the guard was of average height and had practically no muscle to him. In fact he showed signs of a beer gut more than anything. Colt almost wished for a better opponent, but he knew that the less combative the creature was the more silent the kill would be. As a result he was grateful that this would be an easy kill. He looked to the corner past the guards and finally saw Dex give the signal indicating he was ready to move. Colt extended his arm and gave the hand signal ordering him to move.

Simultaneously they leapt from where they hid, both digging up some dirt and kicking it behind them as they did, and ran straight for the guards with their blades at the ready. The vamps noticed their assailants and made to alert the nest inside but they were too slow. Before they could properly act their heads were already on the floor, soon joined by their falling bodies. Each head had been severed cleanly and quickly, exactly as planned. Colt looked at the bodies in front of him and then turned to face the hill they were on minutes before. He raised his hand and waved it horizontally once, telling Shane to make his move.

Colt rotated on the spot to face Dex once again and placed his hand on the barn door, ready to pull it open. They nodded in unison and then breached the barn as quietly as possible. Just as Colt had predicted the vampires were all asleep, some in beds and some in hammocks whilst some just lay on the floor.

They pulled the barn doors shut, so no vampires would wake from the sunlight that seeped in, and so none could escape as easily. Colt waved his arm, silently telling Dex to search the right hand side of the barn whilst Colt took the left. As he looked at all the vampires currently resting he came to realise there were more than they initially anticipated. Before they only saw ten together, but now it seemed there were more like thirty, or perhaps even forty.

Bodies littered the entire area, especially on the floor, so Colt and Dex had to carefully weave through the hibernating undead creatures as slowly and steadily as possible. He trod as lightly as possible, trying not to make too loud a sound against the hard surface of the floor. Thankfully not too much of the ground was solid, it eventually gave way to ground entirely littered with hay and grass mixed together. Yet they still had to be careful so as not to nudge any of the creatures they were bypassing.

Colt browsed through the bodies as he stepped over, ensuring they were really asleep and not just faking. He had a dark feeling spread in his gut, the kind he usually got when he could see something going wrong. He did not waver at such a feeling, he considered it an act of weakness in a moment where no such circumstances were allowed. He lifted his head minutely and immediately he saw movement up ahead. Brashly he lifted his weapon, expecting this to be the result of his "dark feeling" but it was to his surprise that the movement in fact originated from two seemingly ordinary people locked in a cage. They were a man and a woman, both looked somewhere between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, which seemed to be the perfect recruitment ages for this nest.

Although they looked ordinary, Colt knew that ordinary was subject to change at a moment's notice. As such, when he approached the cage he did so warily. The two people both had light blond hair, the exact same shade, and almost identical facial features, likely meaning twins. They both had ruffed up hair and scraggy clothes, as if they had been trapped in these cages for months.

"Maggie? Glenn?" Dex quietly called out as he neared the cage

Maggie began to cry out but Dex put a finger to his lips and used his other arm, holding a blade in his hand, to point at the vampires. She nodded as she understood "We're going to get you out of here."

"No, wait!" Colt ordered sternly but with a hush in his voice "They look like they have been here for some time, for all we know they could have already been turned." He began declaring as if these two people were not even there. "We need to check them first. You see any bites?"

Dex paused at first, almost surprised at the possibility. But he came to realise that given the amount of time Maggie and Glenn had in fact been missing, it was hard to believe they hadn't begun to turn at all yet. He looked over all visible skin, and at all skin revealed through the tears in their clothes "Not that I can see, no"

"Well then, there is only one other way to check." Colt said to Dex, who knew exactly what he meant. Both Colt and Dex asked for an arm from each of the twins, who timidly obliged. Once each held an arm that was extended out they both pulled out a mini knife that had a blade made of pure silver. Before the twins could realise, Colt and Dex made a slight incision into the twins' skin, checking for a reaction that would indicate their level of infection.

Each twin rapidly pulled their arm in close to the body, but neither had a reaction which said they were vampires. "So then, we can loose them out." Dex declared to Colt, who subtly nodded his head.

Dex reached for the latch on the cage door, which could presumably only be used from outside the cell, but he was forced to an abrupt stop as a cold, dead voice emanated from behind him.

"I think not, young man. I would prefer it if you joined them instead!" The man it was revealed to have come from looked no older than thirty five, but that was still older than all the rest looked. He wore a long overcoat and underneath he had on a waistcoat, resembling the status of a "Gentleman".

Colt looked him over and deduced that this was the leader of the nest, based upon his dress sense, the tone to his voice and the clear cut statement he uttered.

"And before you go on thinking about trying to save them against our efforts to stop you, you might want to consider our little hostage situation." After he finished his sentence he snapped his fingers and a tall female dragged Jake out from behind the nest leader.

"Jake..." Dex called out alarmed whilst Colt just looked at the ground and sighed. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid with a newbie joining the team.

"Now, I believe I have the upper hand, so..."

"Hold on just a minute there" Colt interrupted rudely and turned on the spot to Dex "You see what happens when you bring along someone with no skill?!" Dex was surprised by this, given the circumstances of a hostage situation it was only normal to be surprised by an outburst like that.

"The Squirt has no useful abilities and no experience, bringing him here was a waste of time."

Dex looked at Colt's face and saw a tiny movement in his left eye, Colt's version of a wink. And that was when he realised what was happening.

"Well then, why did YOU agree to bring him?" Dex roared, his voice reaching a decibel level higher than he aimed for.

"You're the one who vouched for him, you praised he would be useful, and then his little speech about wanting to learn. Well...how could I apparently refuse him to join on one hunt?!"

"Since when have you been concerned with peoples feelings?"

The leader of the vampire nest kept twisting his head back and forth between the two of them, beginning to wonder what was going on. He fidgeted and then opened his mouth, with a hand raised up and pointing at them both "Excuse me... but..."

"SHUT UP" Colt and Dex howled at him together, both staring at him with eyes reflecting a rather "not to be messed with" mood. The Leader, despite all his prowess as a master of all his brethren, was awestruck, surprised by the out of the blue argument between these two so called allies.

"And for that matter, since when did you begin listening to my apparently unproven suggestions?"

"I always listen to you Dex, I'd be a fool if I didn't. But this time it isn't me who's the fool" Colt retorted, visually on the precipice of anger.

"Oh, I'm the fool?" Dex asked somewhat sarcastically

"Yes, you are. Not to mention..."

"Hold on..." The nest leader tried desparately to regain control of the situation, but he was just met with the rapid action of their heads turning to face him once again.

It was when Colt and Dex looked at him that they stopped, and were on each other's side again. It was then he realised what was really happening: They were biding time. But for what?

The answer soon arrived in the form of Shane appearing behind the leader, like he was there the whole time. Before anyone could react Shane swung his arm upwards and the blade in his hand sliced through the leader's neck effortlessly. His head dropped with a rather gruesome _splat_. All the vampires around them that were now awake audibly gasped as they looked upon the all too easy defeat of their esteemed leader.

Colt nodded in the direction of Shane, a rather appreciative nod, whilst Jake just stood there still wondering what was going on. Dex helped Maggie and Glen to their feet, both had a rather mortified expression upon their faces as a result of all that happened, before and after Colt and his team arrived.

Colt tightened his grip around the hilt to his blade, which currently resided at his side as he looked around to see all the vampires glaring at them "We better get out of here...Now" He ordered with an abnormal amount of calm in his voice and began moving in the direction of the barn doors. He was forced to stop as the Vampiress who previously held Jake hostage now stepped in Colt's way. Colt simply looked into her eyes, filled with a bizarre emotion pertaining to the loss of her master. She hurled herself at Colt but he was too fast. He weaved his body this way and that, dodging her erratic strikes before removing himself entirely from her path and positioning himself behind her so he could swing his blade. Her head struck the ground with the same _splat_ as her master's did.

Mere seconds followed and suddenly the entire nest were on their feet. What seemed like thirty or forty vampires upon first entry seemed like hundreds now as their rapid movements filled the space around Colt and his team. Colt lost track of his team in all this activity and so he yelled" Get out!" in a much less calmer tone than before as he started to bolt for the doors. The vampires didn't allow him to get far however as they lashed out for him. He weaved just as he did before, but it proved far more difficult this time as a countless number of arms tried to hold onto him simultaneously. He swung his blade in various directions, only sometimes making connection with a target. The movements became such a blur he couldn't tell which vampire was which any longer.

Dex remained next to Maggie and Glenn and he was fighting hard to protect them from the group of undead that soon approached. The pace was a lot slower for him than it was for Colt but the threatening nature was still present. A single vampire closed in on him and Dex lashed out his leg to kick him back, but the effort proved in vein as other vamps took the opportunity to attack. Dex was forced backward instead, only to be supported and helped back up by Maggie and Glenn. Once back on his feet he pulled put a second blade, identical to his first, and prepared himself as best he could. He rooted himself to the spot, only periodically repositioning his feet to counter specific movements as arms and teeth came within inches of him. He struck his blades in calculated patterns, effectively removing the heads of a portion of the group attacking him and the couple behind him. His glasses began to slide down the ridge of his nose with his movements, but they seemed to glue to the spot on the half way point, barely budging an inch after that. Eventually his opponents proved too much as the managed to knock a blade from his hands. He saw it go flying through the air, overhead of the large vampire crowd surrounding them all.

Shane had somewhat of an easier time in this combat, his strength proving a great advantage as he pushed vampires aside or held them at a distance, before chopping their heads off in a chain of haste filled movements. Multiple vampires tried jumping at him but he proved surprisingly nimble for a man of his build and so none succeeded. He had tried to protect Jake from the oncoming wave of vampires but they were separated soon after as Jake was lured away by two vampires that singled him out. Shane managed to fend off a large portion of the vampires but he couldn't work his way past their numbers to go after Jake.

As a result Jake was alone as he ran away from the small number of Vampires that followed him. The number may only have been two, but to him it was still frightening. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he propelled himself forward, away from them as fast he possibly could. But it worked against him in the end as he wound up in a corner, the two vamps either side of him trapping him where he stood. His eyes nervously switched between them, the fear of dying right there taking him over with such rapidity. He crouched and waited for the impending soon when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at the vampires he could see slightly past them, to find he had a view of all three hunters, currently fighting to stay alive. Fear still welled inside him, but now something else cropped up as he realised that now was his one chance to be brave, to be like his brother and to prove to Colt he really could be a valuable member to the team. He looked into the eyes of one of the vampires that cornered him, for a second he thought he saw pure black. A black as dark as an endless pit in the ground. He shook the false visual out of his head as he saw their eyes were just like any regular person's eyes, except filled with a deep hunger. Jake waited for what he knew was coming, until it finally came. The vampires lurched for him, but as they did he pushed himself away from the wall, bypassing them both as they crashed into the corner, head first. He slid along the ground and stopped right next to the item he noticed: Dex's blade.

He got to his feet swiftly and, with a new air about him, he picked up the blade before nearing the vampires, this time he had them trapped. He wasted no time in bringing the blade down and hacking away at them. His strikes were far from perfect, in fact they were extremely amateurish but he was indeed an amateur. However, his strikes got the job done and when he finished hacking away at them they were both decapitated.

His breathes were shallow and fast, but he tried to calm himself somewhat and he turned on the spot to see the crew of hunters still fighting. He had to find some way to help them better than randomly swinging the blade, as was his first thought. After a few seconds of thought and concentration he remembered what Shane was ordered to do. He looked around him trying to find a way out of the barn besides the main doors and to his far left he found the back door that wasn't far from where Shane had taken him to earlier. He ran for it, still finding himself a bit out of breath from both trying to escape the vampires and striking them down. It took a lot of energy out of him, but this would be something he would have to get used to he guessed.

As he approached the door he opened it wide and found what he was looking for: The bag of dynamite Shane had brought with him. Once outside he barricaded the door as strong as he could, nothing would be escaping from that door now. He brashly picked up the bag and began to run around the building, practically hugging the wall as he did. No one inside the barn saw his exit and so no one could wonder what he was about to do.

As Jake ran around the outside of the barn he came to realise just how big it really was, by the time he reached the main doors he was completely out of breathe again.

He yanked hard on one of the main doors, dragging it along the ground as it opened in a wide arc. As he looked in he saw the scene was no different from that of the one he saw before he ran around the barn. He placed the bag of dynamite down and removed a single stick, as well as a box of matches which he could use to light the explosives. He lit the singular stick in his hand and threw into the barn, away from the hunters but close enough to the vampire crowd to get some of them. And at least it would grab the attention of the ones it didn't kill.

Seconds later and the loud bang erupted, louder than anticipated as it echoed through the barn. Fire began to spread out from the origin point as it met with wood and hay in the barn as well as the oxygen in the air. The fighting came to a halt in an extreme sense of emergency as every head turned to face the origin point of the bang and fire. It was then that Jake spoke up, loud enough for everyone to hear

"I think it's about time this ended, don't you?" Was all he said before he threw the entire bag of dynamite as far into the barn as he could. Shane, Colt and Dex all realised what he was about to do as they spotted the single red stick remaining in Jake's hands. All thinking the same thing they took the opportunity to make a break for the open door, Dex making sure that Maggie and Glenn followed in suit.

The crowd of vampires barely had to time to realise what was happening before Colt and the others reached Jake, quickly moving to shut the door again. With the time he had left, Jake lit the stick of dynamite and threw it up in the air. The stick spiralled through the air in an arc that allowed it to reach the bag. The heads of all vampires turned as they watched it float through the air and come to land a few inches from the bag. Shane wasted no time in pushing the barn door shut after that, which Colt and Dex followed by barricading it as best they could. The Vamps would have no time to break through before the dynamite blew.

The group began sprinting away from the barn as fast as their muscles permitted. Despite the growing distance they still felt the heat of the fire on their backs as the explosion boomed out into the silence of the western air, almost wrecking their ear drums.

Colt stopped and turned to see the barn with fire spreading, beginning to encase it in an orange glow. A smirk came on his face, the hunt was successful. But it was different, because this time he had to say something in particular. "Nice job Squirt" He voiced in a deep tone. Dex smiled slightly to hear his brother get praise, Shane reacted the same as he knew it was a rare moment to receive such praise from Samuel Colt.

Shane and Dex moved to Maggie and Glen, leaving Jake to revel in this moment, one he deserved.

Jake slowly moved closer to Colt, coming to stand next to him. "You did a fine job for a newbie"

"Thank You, sir" Jake said with a smile creeping on to his face as he looked at the ground.

"So, now you have experienced it for yourself I need to ask: You sure this is what you want? To become a Hunter?" Colt questioned, turning his head to the young man at his side.

Jake looked up from the ground and stared at the fire he started. The fire which killed a group of deadly creatures, allowed the team of elite hunters to escape and permitted the rescue of two innocent lives. He looked upon the result of his actions, actions that helped to save people today and who knows how many more lives that could have been lost in the future. He knew his answer to the question. Keeping his focus on the fire he responded "Hell yes. This is most definitely what I want, sir"

Colt smirked and followed his eye line to the fire before looking back at him and then onto the other members of his team.

"_Together we make a fine team"_ Colt thought to himself. Himself, Shane, Dex and Jake, their newest recruit. Colt looked back into the fire and inwardly thought of how they would be ready for anything. And he knew they would have to be, as there were far worse things out there in the world, but they would hunt them down and eradicate as many of them as possible. And they would succeed: for they are the group that would one day become known as the Hunters of the West.


End file.
